


Untitled

by Falafel_Waffel



Series: Semper Fidelis [3]
Category: Hunger Games (2012), Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Centers around Sandy Hook, Gen, Semper Fidelis Spoilers, So don't hate me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-18
Updated: 2012-12-18
Packaged: 2017-11-21 10:27:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/596670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falafel_Waffel/pseuds/Falafel_Waffel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a cold night in December Peeta Mellark finds another reason to hold his children a little closer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Untitled

**Author's Note:**

> You can find Semper Fidelis in full at http://archiveofourown.org/works/437200/chapters/744137 . This ficlet might not make much sense but can be read without reading my WiP first. 
> 
> I really don’t want to give this a name.   
> I should start by saying that fanfiction has always been a stress reliever for me, or a distraction when I’m upset or depressed writing takes me away from the current situation I’m in even for a brief period of time.
> 
> My first current event piece of fanfiction was a prequel to Semper Fidelis centered around September 11th. I want to warn you that this piece does contain some spoilers for Semper Fidelis but nothing major and plotty. I still have more aces up my sleeves. 
> 
> Also if you can or can’t guess it centers around the events from last Friday from Peeta’s perspective in the Semper Fidelis universe. 
> 
> Thank you Chelzie for getting this back to me so quickly… And not strangling me when this showed up in your inbox.

_Peeta_

_December 2012_

My phone lights up as I see  _Katniss Mellark_ flash across the screen.

I pick it up on the first ring. Katniss never calls me at work unless it’s an emergency. “Yes, dear?”

“I need you to pick Riley and Aiden up from daycare tonight.” I hear some rustling and a zipper. “I just…” she sighs through her lips, a small squeak coming out of her, “Just tell Riley I love her and that I’ll be home soon, and to remember to do her reading.” My wife is crying. Katniss never cries.

She’s crying like my father would when I was younger. It means the Earth is being knocked off its axis.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

“I’m heading to Connecticut with the President. Something’s happened, turn on the news. I don’t know much, just that they think maybe…” she sniffles, “Twenty or so  _children_  were killed.”

Katniss has gone on many surprise business trips. Earlier in the year it was to Colorado, and then to New Jersey after the hurricane. Wherever the President goes, Katniss goes anymore; she loves her job, but it’s taking its toll on her.

“Just take a deep breath, baby,” I soothe. “Our kids are safe… The Earth is still spinning, it’s just shaken up.”

Katniss’ major emotional pressure point is children. She can’t take it when Riley comes in with a skinned knee or Aiden bumps his head toddling around the house. I open my browser and Google ‘Connecticut’. Sure enough, the first link is about a small elementary school where an unknown amount of kids are presumed dead. “But the babies…” she sniffles, “And it’s Christmas, Peeta… the parents… and their Christmas gifts…”

I don’t even know what to tell her, or what I can say to show her any light in this situation. “But I have to go, and you have to work. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. Don’t let Riley watch the news, and make sure you put the drops in Aiden’s ears.”

“What do I tell her?” I ask.

“Nothing. We’ll talk to her about it when I get home,” she confirms.

“Okay, just be careful. I love you…” I tell her.

“And I love you…” she replies tearfully before ending the call.

I’m doing nothing major today, so I leave early enough to get the kids from downstairs before they’re the last ones there. Riley started kindergarten this year, but only goes half days. She spends the other half with her one year old brother in the daycare provided for us by the FBI. I show my ID and they hand me my kids. “Daddy! Look what I drawed!”  Riley announces.

“It’s drew, honey,” I correct and look at the picture, while shifting Aiden on my hip. It’s the four of us on our last trip up to Pennsylvania, or at least I think it is. “Why’s Mommy got a big tummy?”

“It’s the baby sister I asked for,” she tells me with a grin. I ruffle her hair as we walk to the car.

“And what about you, mister man?” I ask Aiden, “Anything interesting with you today?”

My son shoves his hands in his drooling mouth and laughs. “That good, huh?”

“Daddy, where’s Mommy?” Riley asks as I buckle her into her booster seat.

I hesitate. “Mom had to go out of town for work.”

Riley crosses her arms over her chest. “Why didn’t she tell us, huh?”

“Because she didn’t know that she would be leaving until a few hours ago. I’m sure she’ll call us later.”

Sure enough, just as I’m loading dishes in the dishwasher, the phone starts ringing. “Riley, what does it say?”

“Kat-niss Mel… Mell… Mellark! It’s Mommy!” She grabs the receiver and shoves it to her ear, “Mommy? Are you going to bring me back a present?” she hesitates, “But that’s ten whole days from now, Mommy…” Riley sighs dramatically. “Fine… here’s Daddy?”

She rudely shoves the phone in my direction. “How are you holding up?” I ask.

She takes a rough breath in. “I can’t… we got here before the President. There were these tiny black bags and I saw… they’re no bigger than Riley, Peeta. No bigger,” the phone crackles, “We’re heading home late tonight. One more round, then we’re flying back to DC.”

“We’ll be waiting…”

“Uh-huh,” Katniss sniffles, “Did Riley do her reading?”

“She’s reading to Aiden right now. I told her we’re having a no TV night. We should do this more often, because she’s completely okay with it.”

After I put the kids to bed, I finally get to watch the news and try to make sense of what happened. I can’t… I honestly just can’t. These are kids a year older than my daughter, slaughtered. Teachers that only wanted to better kids’ lives, murdered in cold blood.

I hear Riley thumping downstairs just as the news anchor is about to say the name of the suspected shooter. I turn off the TV, never learning his name, and I want to keep it that way. I never want to immortalize someone so horrible, but instead remember the children and adults lost.

“Daddy, I had a bad dream…” she whines from the landing, holding onto ‘Lelly’, her stuffed elephant, by the trunk.

“Come on, bunny,” I tell her, scooping her up. It’s something twenty fathers will never get to do again. I hold Riley close as we go into her brother’s room. Aiden’s still awake. “Can you walk into your Mommy’s and my room? We’ll wait for her there.”

Riley nods and sticks her thumb in her mouth as I check Aiden’s diaper and carry him to my bed. “Watch him for me, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy…” she yawns.

I quickly get ready for bed by changing into a t-shirt and sweats before climbing in next to a half-asleep Riley and a sound asleep Aiden, who I rest on my chest like I did when he was an infant.

“Daddy?” Riley asks quietly. “The teachers today said something bad happened far away… is that true?”

Riley is well aware of war, having a mother in the military. For almost a fifth of her life so far, Katniss was gone overseas, her deployment getting extended and extended until finally she was sent home. Riley, of course, barely remembers this; she wasn’t even two yet. “Yes, honey… A bad man took a lot of kids away from their parents forever…” I whisper.

“And Mommy is fighting the bad man?” She moves closer to me, my little Daddy’s girl. It breaks Katniss’ heart to know how clingy Riley is with me and not her.

“No, bunny. Mommy is making sure the President is safe so no bad people hurt any more kids like that man did.”

She doesn’t ask any more questions. I know Katniss didn’t want me to tell her anything, but she asked. Riley falls asleep shortly afterwards; I try to follow her, but I can’t. All I can think of are the people who may never get a good night of sleep for the rest of their lives because of their losses. I hug my children tightly to me, never wanting to let go.

Katniss stumbles in around two in the morning. I’m still awake, praying for the families and that the souls of the children find peace and find their way home. “Hey…” she whispers while changing. She takes off her shirt and swaps it for a t-shirt before kissing me on the lips. “What did I say about sleepovers?”

“Katniss…”

“I know…” She slides in next to Riley and starts to rub her back. “I can’t even fathom what those people are going through…” she whispers, moving to mess up Aiden’s blonde curls. “What would I do if someone tried to take Aiden or Riley from us like that? I’d find a way to bring them back to life just so I could kill them again.”

“Katniss…” I caution. “Get some sleep, okay?”

I extend my arm so Riley is sandwiched between her mother and I. We fall asleep, holding on tight to our kids, unable to imagine them slipping through our grasp like the children in Newtown, Connecticut.


End file.
